Boyfriend (18 page)

              “Chris, Cole’s father,” she started.  “He didn’t pay rent on the apartment in Atlanta,” she said picking up the piece of paper and handing it to me.  “Now they’re suing both of us for six months of unpaid rent.”

              I shook my head looking at the letter.  $5,765.25 was printed in bold red. “It’s going to be all right, Natalie,” I said touching her back. 

              “I can barely buy baby wipes,” she continued, wiping tears from her eyes.  “The salon is just getting off the ground.  Did I tell you I had three clients last week?  Only three, Nate! All week.  We barely broke even last month.”

              I placed my hand on her shoulder, searching for the right words to say.  I hated seeing her cry.  I felt responsible.  For any pain she felt then.  For any pain she felt now.  I should have been there.  Years ago when she stood desperate in front of me, begging me to help her, I should have packed up her things and taken her with me.  I should have punched my father in his hospital bed and spit on his aging face. 

Natalie buried her hands in her face and I rubbed her shoulder gently.  “You’re not alone anymore, Natalie,” I started.  “I know I haven’t been there for you in the past but I’m here now.  Whatever you need… whatever Cole needs… I’ll try my best to give it to you.  I don’t make much but I’ll try my best.”  She looked at me, her eyes a mixture of emotions.  I could tell she wanted to believe me; she just wasn’t sure whether she should.

She stood and embraced me, pulling away and wiping the tears from her eyes.  “I’m still a crybaby,” she said laughing.  I laughed too, wiping a tear stain from her cheek.   

              “Thank you,” she said squeezing my hand.  “Oh and Nate…” she started just as I turned to walk away. 

“Yea?”

“Don’t screw my friend!”

“I can’t make any promises,” I said, laughing as I turned and sauntered back into the living room.

***

Hooking up with Allison was the first thing I looked forward to doing since I graduated college.    She was hot, a big flirt, and she had a sense of humor that never failed to make me crack a smile.  Our chemistry was instant.  It wasn’t long before our work days were full of inside jokes and meaningful glances.  We’d catch eyes from our check-out lines, share a secret smile at staff meetings and look for excuses to be alone together during our shifts. 

“Who’d buy this?” she said one evening in the stock room, holding up a large package labeled “Easy Feet.” A small red box was affixed to the side of the package with the words “As Seen on TV” printed in white.  I had been working at the store close to a month, and we had volunteered to do inventory for Keith, which meant
at least
a couple of hours alone in the stockroom.

“What is it?” I asked, marking off an item on my clipboard.

“Giant blue shoes with scrubbers so you can wash your feet in the shower without having to bend down,” she said laughing.  “If you are standing in the shower already, you are probably not handicapped, right?” I nodded.  “So why not bend down and wash your feet?”

I shrugged.  “Why would you if you didn’t have to?”

“Nate, seriously? It’s $19.99! You can probably hire a professional foot scrubber for that.” We laughed.

“You want one for Christmas?” I joked.

“A professional foot scrubber?”

“I meant the blue foot-washing thing, but if you’d rather a foot scrubber, I can give it a try,” I said, smirking.

She smiled.  “I don’t think you’d be good at that job.”

“What?” I asked, my mouth dropping open in exaggerated offense.  “I’d be the best foot scrubber you ever met.  I’d get all in your toes.  I’d even throw in your legs.”

She laughed.  “And you’d stop there, right?” 

I paused trying to recall the 15-minute sexual harassment video Keith had made me watch on my second day of work.   Ah, fuck it.

“I’d want you to get your money’s worth.” I turned to face where she stood and put my clipboard to my side.  I looked her up and down slowly.  She laughed.

“What’re you doing after work?” she asked after a moment. 

“Nothing,” I said turning back to the items.

“Cool.” 

***

That night, Allison invited me to a party at her friend’s house in Brooklyn.  She called it a party, but it was really a dimly-lit room in her friend’s basement with a handful of twenty-somethings sitting around, getting high and watching music videos.

              “This is Nate,” Allison said when I arrived as if they had been expecting me.  They looked up, nodding and giving me small waves.  Allison grabbed my hand and led me to a bar area buried behind the vegged-out group.  She chucked her small denim jacket to the side and scrounged for clean cups to pour us both a half of cup of passion fruit Alize.  “Here,” she said handing me a plastic cup filled with the candy orange liquor. 

              We both threw our heads back and drank.  The sweet alcohol warming my mouth and burning its way down.  She grimaced as she swallowed hers.

“You sure this isn’t too much for you, little girl,” I teased.

She smiled, taking a step closer to me. “You’d be surprised at how much I can take.”

I shook my head and took another sip of my Alize.  “Filthy,” I said laughing

“What? I’m talking about drinking.  I’m a skinny girl, but I can take a lot.”  The playfulness was bursting through her sugary ebony eyes.

“I bet.”

She had changed before we left work and was wearing a tight white V-neck T-shirt and blue jeans.   Even with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and not a stitch of makeup, she looked hot.  What was the most attractive about Allison was that she didn’t seem to realize just how hot she was.

“I have a crush on you, Nate,” she said, stepping so close to me our bodies almost touched.  “I have since we were in high school.” 

Taken off guard, I didn’t speak for a moment. 

She smiled, looking down as if blaming her empty plastic cup. “See, this is why I shouldn’t drink.” 

The embarrassment on her face was evident as her cheeks turned a muted red. She started to turn away, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards me.  Our eyes met and I kissed her, snaking my hands around her waist.  Her lips were wet and hungry.  I ran my hand up her back and to her neck, running my fingertips along the base of her neck as we kissed.

“Get a room!” someone yelled.  Allison and I pulled away, breathing heavy and looking into each other’s eyes.  She smiled as I ran my hand over my mouth, fighting the urge to grab her again.

“Good idea,” she said not taking her eyes off me.

***

Allison’s house looked abandoned from the outside.  The small patch of grass in her front yard was overgrown and the brick stairs leading up to her front door were riddled in chips and missing fragments.  The inside wasn’t much better.  We entered through the cluttered kitchen.  The table was covered in unopened mail and newspapers.  Empty and partially empty paper cups littered the floor.  As we made our way through the dark hallway to Allison’s room, we stepped over at least two sleeping cats. 

Given the mess we had passed, Allison’s room was not that bad.  To the right was a full size bed pushed into the corner and to the left was a tall cherry wood dresser.  Aside from a few sneakers lying around, the room was relatively clean. 

“I live with my mother,” she said plopping down on the bed.  “But, she’s never here.”

I sat down next to her. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” I asked, wondering if at any moment her 6’5 older brother would come bursting into the room.

“A half-brother and half-sister but they live with my father in California.” 

I nodded. “Do you visit often?” 

She shook her head, looking at my lips and smiling.  “Can I have another kiss?” she asked after a moment. 

I smiled back leaning in and kissing her softly, relieved that she didn’t expect me to say more.  I kissed her neck as she fell back onto the bed, running my hand along her waist as she parted her legs and I moved in between.  We kissed as though our chemistry had a soundtrack; our lips dancing in sweet rhythm, tasting every drop of each other and smiling in between breaths.  The chemistry between us was intense.  I pulled back to undress as she sat up to take off her T-shirt, revealing her full bare breasts.  She ran her hands along my shaft as I took off my shirt, kissing my tip before slipping me in her mouth and sucking gently.  I moaned, grabbing her ponytail and holding her mouth on me.  She looked up at me and smiled. 

“Shit,” I breathed.  She leaned back, slipping out of her jeans as I put on a condom.  She sat up and pulled me inside her, meeting each of my thrusts hungrily, her body welcoming me with such eagerness, I never wanted to pull out. 

***

I woke up to Allison straddling me and poking my cheeks with her fingers.  She had climbed on top of me, still nude, and sat me smiling.   It was still dark out but the streetlights were pouring through her blinds. 

“What’re you doing?”  

“I just wanted to let you know its 4am.  You’re opening today, right?” She ran her hands along my chest.  I nodded, completely forgetting I had to be at work at 7am.   “You should probably go then,” she said not moving.  She leaned down and kissed my chest, looking back up at me and biting her lip. 

“I should,” I murmured.  I put my hands on her waist and squeezed, enjoying the sight of her naked on top of me.  She leaned down and kissed me.

“Bye,” she whispered, pulling away.

“Bye,” I said kissing her back. 

***

Allison and I woke up to the sound of voices from outside her door.  I sat up and looked back at her, curled in a ball, buried in her sheets.  I stared at the small alarm clock on her windowsill.  It was only thirty minutes until my shift started at work.  I glanced out the window wondering if I could slip out of the window unnoticed to avoid the drama outside the door.

“Stop playing games with me, Pat,” a male voice yelled. 

“
I’m
playing games?” a shrill female voice shouted back.  The sound of something crashing against the wall echoed loud through Allison’s room followed by a door slam.  Allison groaned and covered her face with a pillow.  I got up and put my clothes on.  She did the same.

“You are probably wondering what that was about,” she began.

“Not really,” I said buttoning my pants. 

“Good. It’s just some of my mother’s drama.”  As I made my way to the window, she laughed.  “What’re you doing?”

“Sneaking out,” I said trying to pry the window open.  She laughed harder.

“You don’t have to do that.” She reached for my hand.  “Come meet my mom.”

***

Allison’s mom was a busty forty-something wearing cut off denim shorts in the winter time.  Her dyed bleach blonde hair looked too light for her tan complexion and was piled on top of her head with a black scrunchy.  She stood in front of the kitchen stove with a spatula and a cigarette. 

“Ma?” Allison said as we approached her. 

“What?!” her mother said before turning, clearly still wired from the argument she had before we came out.

“This is Nate.” I looked at her mother and smiled.

“Oh.” Allison’s mother flashed an irritated look at Allison and ran her hands over her shirt.  “You should’ve told me you had company.”

Here we go. 
I was convinced I should’ve gone out the window.

“Look at me,” she continued with a big smile.  She ran her hand over her hair.  “I’m a mess!” 

Surprised, I chuckled. 

“I’m Pat,” she said walking towards me. 

“Hi,” I said, extending my hand.  She took my hand pulling me into an embrace. 

“So handsome.  Did Allison tell you her last stepfather was from Jamaica? You know what they say about once you go black…” she said doing a little shimmy as she pulled away.  I laughed, looking over at Allison who looked mortified.

“He isn’t staying, Ma.  He has to be at the store soon.”

“Oh,
this
is the Nate you work with,” Pat said raising her eyebrows at Allison. 

“Oh my God,” Allison mumbled, covering her face with her hands. 

“What? He stayed here last night, right? I’m sure he knows you like him by now.”  Pat laughed, nudging Allison with her hip.

“Ma!” Allison yelled from underneath her hand peaking at me from under her fingers.  I looked at her and laughed.  She stifled a smile.  “He’s going.”  Allison took my hand leading me to the front door.

“You can come back anytime,” Pat yelled as we closed door.

“My mom is so inappropriate,” Allison said once we got outside the door. 

“She’s hysterical.” I laughed

“Yea, because she isn’t your mother.”

“Trust me, I’d take yours over mine any day,” I said, wishing I could pull the words back in my mouth.

She shrugged, looking off to the side, lost in thought. 

“So,” I said tapping her nose to bring her back.  She looked back at me and smiled.  “We should do this again.”